Aftermath
by Lila Priceless
Summary: Everyone who runs in the rain has to eventually find a place to dry off.


Tohru was awakened by the movements of the sleeping figure curled protectively around her. As her eyes became adjusted to the light she began to notice the strangely familiar settings around her: the white blinds, the framed samurai code on the wall, the kendo sticks preventing the closet door from completely closing, the bookshelf in the corner, the pictures on the nightstand and the hair of the person beside her.

"Why am I here?" She wondered. Slowly everything began to come back to her. The memories of that day. "I was outside, with Kyo. We were in the rain. His words. The look in his eyes," everything was finally sinking in as Tohru stared at the ceiling. Yuki was the red hat boy. They both had met her, Mom. They both had met her and neither one of them told me. Kyo was even her friend. Yuki had been her hero.

Tohru sat up as the memories began to shift into what seemed like a movie. Yuki chasing Kyo and the figure lunging from the bushes, "I ran. I ran, but I slipped on the step."

She looked at the bandage on her calf thinking:

"_I was cut. It cut me and I kicked. He fell hitting his head on the rocks beside the step. I couldn't stand. I tried to move, but couldn't stand. I was able to scoot farther away, but I couldn't stand. The knife. The knife, it flashed again as he crawled towards me.. I kicked once more; this time I hit his hand. He lost his balance and landed on the slippery porch. A voice cried out from the bloody face, 'It's all your fault! If you were dead they would come back to me! It's your fault! I won't let you have them!'. That person. That person stood up and the knife slashed down towards me. _

_Yuki and Kyo. They both came. They yelled for him to stop. He turned and took a step towards them pointing the knife in their direction. 'It's your fault if she dies. Whatever happens to her is your fault. You tried to leave me! You can't leave me! I'm God! I'm your only God! She is nothing to you! I won't give you to her! I'll kill her. I'll kill you all!' _

_Yuki and Kyo stood frozen in place. 'Help me!' I screamed, but they stood still. _

_Akito turned back towards me with the knife. The twisted kimono had pulled open and was flapping wildly as the arm brandishing the knife swung through the air. My eyes left the knife as I noticed we're almost the same size'._

Tohru absentmindedly began touching the bandages on her left arm "I must really be stupid. Comparing breast size when I'm about to die." As she looked out the window to clear her head, the falling rain made the scene once more begin to play in her mind:

_She came closer and slashed again. My arm. I put my arm up to protect myself. It was cut. A horn. Lights and a horn. A car. A car pulled into the garden only a few feet from the house. Shigure-san and Ayame-san got out. _

'_You can't stop me! I'll kill her! You're mine! Do you understand? Mine!' Akito yelled at the interlopers. The knife. It flashed in the headlights as Akito glanced in that direction and swung again. 'You can't have them!' she wailed as she distractedly sliced my elbow._

_I put my arm up again expecting to feel the full force of the knife as she bore down upon me. I braced myself for a cut that never came. I opened my eyes to see Shigure on top of Akito. The knife was still in her hand moving back and forth near my hip. My leg. It was scraped by the back of the blade as it was being dragged away. My foot. The blade pierced the bottom of my foot as she struggled beneath him. Struggled to get at me._

'_Dammit. Don't just stand there! Do something! Get Tohru! I'm not sure how long I can hold her. Akito, please stop, you know I'll never leave you. I'll always be with you. Please stop!'_

'_Liar!' Shigure's plea was answered with a slash as Akito writhed beneath him. Shigure's bloody hand grabbed the knife while his other hand tried to pry it loose. _

'_Tohru! Grab Tohru!', he begged glancing out at Yuki, Kyo and Ayame. Each of them seemed to battling their own demons. Kyo was staring and shaking his head back and forth muttering 'It's not my fault! It's not my fault! You're wrong! It's not my fault'. Yuki had collapsed into his brother's arms and was convulsing violently from the shock of Akito's breast. 'Kyon-kichi' Aaya yelled as he swung his umbrella hitting him in the back 'Do something!' _

The sound of door closing and footsteps on the pathway brought Tohru back to the reality of the present. "Kyo" she thought. "Kyo, he saved me. He picked me up and carried me. He shielded me from the knife when it was thrown at me." Tohru closed her eyes and thought of the orange ball of fur Kyo collapsed into once they were inside the house. "He saved me, but how? How did he get that far without transforming?" The gate creaked shut as the images once more flooded towards her:

_I was in the hospital. Kisa, Hiro and Momiji were there. Kisa and Hiro left, but Momiji stayed behind. 'Do you remember Tohru? Do you know what happened?' he prodded gently. Before I could answer he hugged me. Nothing. Nothing happened. 'I'm free! I'm free and so is Hiro!' he exclaimed, 'Nobody else thought, just us. Guess what? Akito is a girl' _

'_You're wrong. Kureno is free too.' I interjected, 'He has been for a long time. He told me one in the park. I found out about Akito on that day as well. I'm sorry I couldn't tell anyone. I wanted to but I couldn't.' _

_Momiji looked away sadly before he began speaking, 'Kureno was stabbed. Akito stabbed him before he, no she attacked you. Tori says he'll be okay. He just has to stay here for awhile so he can get better. Tori and Shigure were at Ayame's house when the maid called him. Tori came here to help him. Shigure and Ayame went to look for Akito and to warn you three. Ayame was scared Akito was going to hurt Yuki so he drove through the fence and ran over the garden.' _

'_Everyone was here but they left'. Momiji continued, 'Uo-chan went to see Kureno. He had been asking for Arisa, but no one knew who she was until today. Hana-chan went with her to inspect his waves. I'm glad you're okay Tohru. I would be sad if you weren't. Guess what? Momo was here. She came for a physical and I saw her. She told me to tell you hello. She remembered you and that you were my friend. She gave me this to give to you' Momiji paused long enough to hold up a red lollipop._

'_Yuki is here too. He stopped talking just like Kisa did. Ayame and Haru are with him. That's where Kisa and Hiro went. Kisa said he had to think things over for himself and once he sorted everything out he'd be okay. Tori said the same thing and that Kisa was smart for realizing that. Kagura was here too, but she went to see Kyo. She said tried to bring Rin but she wouldn't come. She's worried, but she hates hospitals too much. She said she spent too much busting out of hospitals to go to one when she doesn't have too. Your Grandpa came while you were asleep. He stayed for a few hours, but he left to go take his medication. He said he'll be back tomorrow if you aren't out. _

_Tori said you can have an ice cream cake once you woke up. What kind do you want? Me and Kisa will bring it to you. I want strawberry and peach swirl. Are you sleepy? I can go so you can get some sleep' Momiji said as he rose from Tohru's bedside. 'Tori told me not to bother you and to let you rest. I'll see you tomorrow.'_

'_Wait, where's Kyo? I remember asking._

'_He's at home. Shishou-san is watching him so he doesn't run away again,' Momiji said as he left the room. _

The sound of a truck backfiring startled Tohru out of her daze. "That's right" she thought, "I'm at Shishou-san's. Sohma-kun is at Ayame-san's. Shigure-san is at the main house helping Hatori-san look after Akito-san."

"I was stabbed 5 days ago and left the hospital 2 days ago. Shishou-san took me in because ….? Why did he take me in?" Tohru turned sideways and tried to get out of bed, but instead stumbled as she tried to get up.

"Be careful. Your legs are still weak. Do you need anything? I'll get it," the voice beside her said catching her before she landed on the floor.

"No thank you. I'm just piecing together these last few days and trying to make sense of it all. Sohma-kun is at Ayame-san's, Shigure-san is at the main house, and I'm here with you at Shishou-san's. It's strange how things turn out" Tohru said as she sat back down on the bed. She then shifted to ease the ache coming from an unfamiliar area. She gasped sharply bringing one hand to cover her mouth while the other reached lower towards a more delicate area. 'I….we….I."

"It's okay" Rin said as she pulled Tohru to her. "It's okay. It's only natural for that to happen when you love each other and want to be together."

Tohru just blushed as the tears began to form in her eyes. Her thoughts went back to the night before and the feelings of uncertainty grew stronger, "How did you know?"

"I woke up during the night and you were gone. I didn't think anything of it at first, but then I heard…", Rin paused to find the right words to use in this situation. "I heard sounds coming from Kyo's room. I was still awake when he carried you back in later"

"Oh, we were loud. Did Shishou-san…? What have I done?" Tohru began to groan as she thought back to waking up in the middle of the night and leaving the room she shared with Rin.

"Relax. You weren't loud. I just was worried when you weren't in the kitchen and the bathroom door was open. I thought you might have been talking to Kyo, but with everything that's happened; I put my ear to his door to make sure you were in there. Shishou's room is on the other side of the house. He sleeps like log; nothing can wake him up once he's out." Rin said reassuringly. "Do you regret it?

"No, I don't think I do. I'm not sure. I need to think about this," Tohru said.

"Do you want me to get him?" Rin asked.

"No. Shishou-san…." Tohru began

"Is gone" Rin interrupted as she moved towards the door.

"Stop. I'm not ready to face him," Tohru finally admitted.

Rin sat back down on the bed near Tohru once again. "It's okay. As long as you love each other and you protected yourselves it's okay."

The look on Tohru's face spoke volumes as Rin realized that neither one of them had thought that far ahead.

"Don't tell anyone I said this, but Kyo's not that bad of a person even if he is the cat." Rin closed her eyes she began to recall her childhood,

"_The first time I went to the hospital they brought me here when I was released. They weren't sure what to do with me so Shishou kept me here while they decided. Every night I would wake up screaming and Kyo would always run in to wake me up. He said it was because he couldn't sleep with me making so much noise, but he always stayed until I quieted back down and went back to sleep. The next day he would go right back to pretending that he didn't want me here and that he didn't care what happened to me."_

Rin paused to pick at a piece of fuzz on the blanket before continuing,

"_The first night I didn't scream was because Hatsuharu had snuck out of his house to come see me. We were outside talking so I wasn't asleep. When I came back in, Kyo was in the corner waiting for me. He left once he saw I was okay. The next day the match between him and Haru was more violent than usual. I guess it was his way of looking out for me"_

Tohru once more refused Rin's offer to get Kyo as the tears ran freely down her face, "He didn't want to" she began "He didn't want to. He told me himself that he didn't want to fall in with love me, but I still went to his room last night. He didn't want to, it's my fault that we…. I made him."

Rin snorted in disgust, "He didn't push you away did he? He could have carried you back in before anything happened. He's so good at running away, but he didn't run did he? Stupid girl. He wanted you to stay"

"But" Tohru protested.

"But nothing. He wanted you near him. He still does. Stupid." Rin's voice softened as she continued to speak, "I felt the same way after my first time. Like it was my fault; that I'd done something wrong and would be punished. Haru was there to convince me otherwise. His mom was used to me sneaking over and spending the night since we were kids so she wasn't concerned anything like that would happen. No one suspected a thing since we were always together, but I was afraid. I was afraid I'd be punished and Haru would leave me."

Rin smiled wryly and shook her head, "I was so gullible. Haru convinced me it was okay and that as long as no one knew, we would be safe. That little pervert had it all planned out, but still he never left my side."

"Rin, did it? Umm, were you…ahh… the next day…did you feel….?" Tohru's blush and the way she awkwardly adjusted her position conveyed the question she was struggling to ask.

"Sore and a small ache?" Rin provided. "That's normal. It goes away. A little blood is normal too. The ache will go away in a few days. You won't hurt afterwards once your body becomes accustomed to…"

"Eeep" Tohru gasped cutting Rin off. She hadn't even considered the idea of another time. She knew it would happen eventually and that's what normal couples did, but she wasn't even sure if the two of them were a couple. The idea of more alone time with Kyo made her blush wildly and grip her pillow in a confused mix of emotions. Her eyes bugged and a warm feeling came over her as she thought of how good she felt laying in his arms.

Rin rolled her eyes as she walked to the closet, "Watch this," she instructed while reaching in and pulling out a long sleek piece of wood that was used to practice spear techniques. She smiled wickedly and removed a book from the shelf to reveal a small hole. She adeptly inserted the stick and jabbed it back and forth rapidly until she heard a yelp. Once her goal was accomplished she returned the stick to the closet.

"Dammit Rin" Kyo cursed on the other side of the wall. He had forgotten about the stick and the hole. It was Haru's idea from when they were kids. He would use that to notify Kyo when Rin left with him. Haru thought it wouldn't make Kyo worry about her or beat him up the next day if Kyo knew Rin was gone beforehand. Kyo didn't like the little girl Shishou had brought home and was afraid he would be replaced by her and be sent away. Still, his dislike did not keep him from feeling sorry her after seeing her bruises and hearing her cry at night. He didn't want anything to happen to her. In his 8 year old mind if they could come and get her, his Dad and the others could come and get him too. He decided he wouldn't let her cry or scream anymore so no one could find them and take them away.

"I forget about it and that girl uses it against me." He grumbled recalling the events leading to Haru poking the hole in the wall:

_He woke up one night because it was too quiet. He didn't hear her screaming or crying softly in her sleep. He slid the door back in her room and saw the bed was empty and the window was open. He hid in her closet thinking, "If they come for me, they won't find me in here." _

_He sat there all night too terrified to move hoping that Shishou would come, but he never did. He heard voices outside and someone crawled in the window. Haru laughed when he saw Kyo huddled in the closet and called him a scaredy cat. He paid for that remark the next day and made the hole as an apology. _

"Relax," Rin said oblivious to the real reason behind the notification system as well as the symbolic meaning of the motions she had just done, "Haru and me would poke Kyo like this all the time when we were kids to get him back for picking on us,".

"I don't hear anything else. Let me try again" and once more walked over to the closet.

Kyo sat up and looked at the pillow he'd been holding. It still had her scent on it. Kyo closed his eyes and saw her face looking up at him trustingly from beneath the pillow as it was crushed between them.

"What have I done? That wasn't supposed to happen," Kyo balled his hands into fist as his thoughts echoed the same confusion as the girl he carried from his room only hours ago. The symbolism of the stick sliding through his wall and its steady rhythm against his leg was not lost on Kyo as he began to wonder if perhaps that what she felt as he moved inside her.

Rin pulled the spear from the hole and taped a thumbtack to the end of it determined to get Kyo's attention. She then started to ram it into his room mercilessly. "I know you're in there so stop ignoring me" she grunted as she pierced Kyo's leg with her makeshift weapon.

A few seconds later Kyo came bursting into the room yelling, "What the hell! I was …" The look on Tohru's tear-stained face stopped the lie on his tongue. "Sleeping" he whispered as turned to leave the room.

"Wait" Kyo turned around to see Rin quietly creeping out of the window leaving them alone to face what they'd done. Tohru was sitting quietly on the bed looking bashfully up at him. "Don't go" she said.

"Are you okay?" he asked looking at the marks his kisses had left along her neckline and below her collarbone.

"Did I hurt you?" he inquired upon noticing the light bruises on her inner thigh and thinking of the bloodstains her innocence had left on his sheets.

"No" she said quietly as he gingerly sat on the bed beside her. He kissed her cheek and then leaned his head so that it was on top of hers. He reached for her hand and she relaxed as some of her fears were slowly being erased. She looked at the hand that was holding hers and looked further up at the arm beside hers.

"Your bandage…" she began noticing it was missing from the wound Akito had given him. Only the ugly gash held together by stitches was staring back at her as she remembered their sweat had loosened the adhesives and friction finished the job.

"It's my fault" he began. "Your mom, you getting stabbed, last night. All of it; it's my fault. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen. I'm sorry." He looked around the room afraid to face her and instead saw the red hat on the floor where Rin had knocked it from the bookcase. His eyes settled on the nightstand and the picture of Kyoko looking accusingly at him. "She'll never me forgive for this. Not for any of the pain I've caused you."

"No, forget. She said forget." Tohru also looked to the nightstand and reached across him to get the picture. "Mom would often say she wondered what happened to the little orange haired Rascal she met one day. She hoped he would come by to see her. She wanted us to be friends. Especially since we both seemed so…alone…Kyo please don't leave me. Don't leave me all alone… by myself. You promised."

He looked back at the red hat on the floor and took the picture from Tohru's hand. As he stared it at he remembered his words from that day _"I'll protect her. It's a man's promise. I'll protect her." _

Kyo returned the picture to Tohru as seeds of doubt crept into his mind. _"A man's promise, but you're not a man. You're a monster. You're not even human. How can you speak of being a man?" _

"_Monster! Monster!Monster!"_ That word echoed in his mind as he heard the voice of the person who stabbed her --a woman who spent her entire life pretending to be a man. The father who bullied his mother and abandoned him soon joined the Akito. Their chorus mocked him while they ignored their own failures as human beings _"Monster! Monster! Monster!"_

He looked over at Tohru and thought of the foolish traveler and the note the monster left after it had devoured his final gift. "Only a fool would happily give all she had to a monster like me."

"_What will you do when a girl tells you she likes you?"_ Shigure's words came to him as if they were written on Tohru's face. "_What will you do when a girl tells you she likes you?_

_Tohru would be happier if you were free"_ the rabbit chimed in from some dark corner of his mind.

"_What will you do when a girl says she likes you? _Kyo looked around the room as Shishou's words were added to the mix of voices swirling around inside his head. _"You have to breathe the air of a higher place…. I guess I was finally ready to accept that a_ _certain someone would be okay… That lukewarm feeling you don't hate it…. You're afraid of that it's healing you… Not everyone in the world will reject you….a certain someone will be okay….what will you do when a girl says she likes you?"_

"_A man's promise…you can be as dumb as you want when I'm around…you can call my name even if you don't have anything to say…you can hit me if you get mad….I'll listen to your problems"_ Kyo's own words came back to haunt him as he removed the pillow Tohru was clutching and placed it in front of him so he could pull her closer.

"I'm not a monster and you're not a fool" he told Tohru as she settled into the space he made when he slid behind her and wrapped his legs around her hips. He wrapped his arms around hers and laced his fingers into hers so that they were both holding the picture frame. Tohru looked at the hands which were now holding hers and saw deep scratches that ended in half moons on each knuckle at the base of his fingers.

"I didn't realize I'd held on so tightly" Tohru thought as she leaned back against the pillow until Kyo's face was next to hers.

"I'm selfish. Everything happened so unexpectedly I was careless and I didn't stop to think about your future," Kyo said looking at the bookshelf and thinking of the square packets Haru and Rin kept beneath it. "I don't know what will happen, but somehow we'll be okay. I won't leave you. Even if they try to lock me up. I won't leave you."

"I'll keep my promise" he said looking at the picture of Kyoko they held together in their hands. "Please forgive me. I won't run away this time. I know I don't deserve her and you probably had someone better in mind, but I won't leave her and I'll do my best to make her happy. I'll still make mistakes, but I won't run away and leave her alone with no one to protect her. It's a promise that I'll keep this time. So please forgive me both of you. Please forgive me".

"Do you really think we'll be okay?" Tohru asked him.

"Yeah I do" Kyo said as he kissed her gently on the lips.

"I hate to interrupt this shoujo moment, but get the hell out of my room stupid cat!" Rin yelled from the doorway.

"Stupid. Who are you calling stupid you ignorant bitch?" Kyo growled as he jumped from the bed and into Rin's face.

Some things never change Kazuma thought as he heard the commotion while putting down his umbrella and removing his shoes in the entryway. "My children…my loud and quarreling children."

The insults changed and the voices got louder as he approached ruckus. "Stop yelling, you're scaring Tohru" he scolded shaking his head back and forth, "Look at her," pointing to the lump under the covers. "You can pull your head out. They only bite at each other."

"She started it" "He started it" Kyo and Rin yelled in unison.

"Both of you stop. I can't concentrate on cooking breakfast with all this noise"

The threat worked as Kyo and Rin immediately stopped arguing. Both of them stomped off toward the kitchen ignoring all else to ward off the punishment of eating Shishou's cooking.

"I hope they didn't disturb you," Shishou said to Tohru who was peeking from under the covers.

"Some things never change" he said as he walked away laughing leaving Tohru alone with her thoughts.

"He's right. Some things never change," she thought placing her feet on the floor. "But so many others do."

This time she rose without stumbling and returned her mother's picture to the nightstand. "We'll be back" she said as she moved towards the argument in the kitchen.


End file.
